Pedro rejects Premier League interest to stay with Barcelona

Barcelona forward Pedro has rejected interest from Premier League outfits Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea to commit his future to the club, reports The Mirror.

The 27-year-old has been struggling to get game time at the Nou Camp since the arrival of Neymar in 2013 and has been linked with a move to several English clubs for much of the last two years.

Speculation seemed to come to an end when, last month, Pedro agreed to extend his contract with Barcelona until the end of the 2018/19 season. The La Liga champions also confirmed they would keep his £110m release clause intact.

BECOME A WRITER

But it was later reported that Barcelona tied him to such a deal to ensure they got a decent transfer fee in this summer's market and were very much ready to do business. Arsenal were the first to make a concrete move.

Reports in Spain were reiterated by The Independent over the weekend claiming Arsene Wenger had opened a dialogue with Barcelona over a £15m move.

The Mirror has now claimed that both Chelsea and Liverpool were also keeping tabs on the situation but none of them have tempted Pedro into leaving his cushy place on the Barcelona bench.

Bench life

Pedro appeared in 35 of Barcelona's 38 La Liga games last season; figures that seem to suggest that he is a key player under Luis Enrique.

However, he came on as a substitute in as many as 20 of those games and finished his season having played just 1531 minutes; the equivalent to 17 full matches.

It appears that Neymar, Leo Messi and Luis Suarez, who scored over 120 goals between them last season, are set in stone as Barcelona's leading trio.

Not much better at Arsenal

However, the claim that Arsenal were interested was tenuous at best as the Gunners are probably best stocked in the wide-forward positions.

Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Serge Gnabry are all vying for a place on the wing while Danny Welbeck and even Aaron Ramsey have been known to play there.

Pedro would almost certainly jump ahead of all but Sanchez in these rankings, but that would leave either Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain and definitely Gnabry, facing an uncertain future at the club.

Comment

Did Arsenal ever need Pedro?

Give us YOUR thoughts in the comment box below!

Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: http://gms.to/writeforgms

Report author of article

DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

Want more content like this?

Like our GiveMeSport Facebook Page and you will get this directly to you.